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When Angelica and Simon Fear lost their two daughters, it nearly destroyed them. Now the Fears have only one mission--to summon every ounce of dark power within them, and bring their daughters back from the dead! Original. (Young Adult)
R.L. Stine, author of the multimillion-selling Goosebumps and Fear Street series, lives in New York City with his wife, Jane, an editor and publisher, and their dog, Minnie. Visit RLStine.com.
However believable his plots seem to his readers, Stine insists he has never lived one of his stories. "I've never turned into a bee -- I've never been chased by a mummy or met a ghost. But many of the ideas in my books are suggested by real life. For example, one Halloween my son, Matt, put a mask on and then had trouble pulling it off. That gave me the idea for The Haunted Mask."
Although he never experienced terror first hand, he did enjoy reading about it. "When I was a kid, there were these great comic books called Tales From The Crypt and The Vault of Horror. They were gruesome. I discovered them in the barbershop and thought they were fabulous. I used to get a haircut every Saturday so I wouldn't miss any of these comic books. I had no hair at all when I was a kid!"
His ideas came from two sources: his memory and his imagination. "When I write, I try to think back to what I was afraid of or what was scary to me, and try to put those feelings into books." He also keeps a tribal mask and a skeleton hanging in his writing studio to provide eerie surroundings. Although he handles the writing by himself, Stine says he gets "lots of help from my editors, my readers, and my friends."
Kids reading Goosebumps may be looking for a scare, but the laughs they get are no accident. Before he was R. L., he was Jovial Bob, author of such works as 101 Silly Monster Jokes, and Bozos on Patrol and editor of Bananas magazine. His ability to know what kids will laugh at , as well as what will frighten them, makes the Goosebumps series all the more enjoyable for his readers.
Stine started writing when he was 9 years old! He would write stories and jokes on an old typewriter and hand them out at school. "The teacher would grab them and take them away," Stine says, "but I kept doing it." He wrote for his high school newspaper in Columbus Ohio. After graduating from Ohio State University, he moved to New York City, where he worked on a variety of writing jobs.
Although his books are fun and exciting, writing them is serious stuff. He treats writing "...like a job." To unwind after work he enjoys playing the pinball machine conveniently located in his own apartment.
For aspiring authors, Stine feels reading is as important as writing. He offers this advice: "If you want to be a writer, don't worry so much about writing. Read as much as you can. Read as many different writers as you can. Soak up the styles. You can learn all kinds of ways to say things." As a boy he read Norse legends, Greek myths, Edgar Allan Poe and baseball stories. "And Mad Magazine changed my life." Author biography courtesy of Scholastic, Inc.
"My first job in New York was making up fake interviews with movie and TV stars for a group of six movie magazines. I never spoke to the stars I wrote about. I wrote three-to-four "interviews" a day, all out of my imagination."
"'I've written over 300 books but I never learned to type. I use only one finger, the pointer on my left hand -- that's all. Three hundred books on one finger! The finger is very ugly now -- completely bent and curled and callused. When I show it to audiences, they can't believe it! This is my sacrifice for my art!"
"Sometimes kids show up at my country house and ask if my son Matt can come out and play. That's because they saw him mentioned in the back of my books. But they're very disappointed when he comes to the door -- because Matt is in his mid-twenties now! They were reading very old books! Matt is a musician, composer, and sound designer. You can hear his music at my web site, www.rlstine.com."
"I hope my readers get a chance to see my 4-D movie, R. L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse. The movie stars Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Lea Thompson, Weird Al, and others. You can find it playing at four parks: SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego, Busch Gardens Tampa, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Virginia. Watch out -- you might get very wet!"
Anonymous
Posted October 28, 2012
It's detailed n interesting novel!
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Posted April 13, 2004
This is a great book! It is so freaky and wierd . Any smart horror lover would read this!!
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Posted June 2, 2003
this book was good although not the best because of its lack of action in it. simon and angelica fear are still grieving over the deaths of their daughters and so meets two teenage girls who's come to visit them in the fear mansion. simon and angelica then realizes that the girls can bring their daughters back to life and so they summon up their dark magick to bring them back. good book!!
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Posted July 7, 2002
i'm only 11 years old and i read daughters of silence ,its a good book but its freaky because it has parts where spiritual stuff is happening,thats why i liked the book because it scary.(i like scary books)
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Posted September 2, 2002
This is the second best of the fear street sagas! I have read these books and I love them. The only better book is children of fear.Amazing book(read it)!!!!!
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Posted August 26, 2001
Daughters of Silence rules!Here's the whole idea,Simon and Angelica Fear want to bring their daughters back from the dead.They have to do that by taking two young girls' lives.
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Posted July 16, 2001
It was cool.I like it when it says-'My daughters used to love them.I could never bake enough.sometimes they even sqabbled over the last few crumbs...' And the part where it says-'Our dear Hannah loved to collect dolls.' And the part where it says-'Soon,my Hannah.' And when it says-'Yesss. It's my turn...to live.' and when it says-'That...is my bracelet!My favorite bracelet! Give it back!' And when it says-'Come again soon,Julia!'I finished it in one day.
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 23, 2001
This Book is one of the best book I read in a year!
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Posted July 18, 2001
It was great.I want to read-A New Fear[1], House of Whispers[2],Forbidden Secrets[3], The Sign of Fear[4],The Hidden Evil[5], Children of Fear[7],Dance of Death[8], Heart of the Hunter[9],and The Awakening Evil[10].
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Posted March 28, 2001
This is a good Fear Street Saga if you like Simon and Angelica Fear. This is about there 2 daughters that died, and trys to make them come alive by stealing someone's life away!
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Posted April 8, 2000
Read this book it is really good. I give it 5 stars
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Posted January 19, 2000
OK,this book had some terrifying parts to it..you'll be especially scared if graveyards scare you,but some of the things that happen in the book were so scary..and the two main characters kept going back for more,i guess the whole time i was readding i was thinking of how stupid they were.plus,when i read stiens book,i ususally assume they are gonna be 'who dunnit' books.theres ususally a mystery as to who the culprit is..in this case you know right away...in conclusion,i would say in general its a good book,i wouldnt reccomend it to people who like realistic characters though.
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Posted August 3, 2012
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
When Angelica and Simon Fear lost their two daughters, it nearly destroyed them. Now the Fears have only one mission--to summon every ounce of dark power within them, and bring their daughters back from the dead! Original. ...